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Confirmation of out call at home rankles Mets

Review reveals no violation of plate-blocking rule on Ramos' tag of den Dekker

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Out at home reviewed 2:24

8/13/14: A play at the plate in the 9th inning is reviewed and the umpires confirm that there is no violation of Rule 7.13

By Tim Healey
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MLB.com |

NEW YORK -- In years past, Matt den Dekker might have run Wilson Ramos over.

The Mets outfielder was barreling toward home from third base on a one-out grounder to shortstop. den Dekker represented the tying run in the bottom of the ninth of the Nationals' eventual 3-2 win, and his mad dash began as soon as Eric Campbell's bat made contact with the ball. Shortstop Ian Desmond's throw to Ramos, the catcher, beat den Dekker by plenty, and home-plate umpire Stu Scheurwater ruled the runner out.

A one-minute, 33-second crew-chief review -- which came after Mets manager Terry Collins' brief meeting with Scheurwater -- confirmed the call on the field. There was no violation of Rule 7.13 and den Dekker was out.

"Four hours ago, he's safe, as we saw on the TV tonight," Collins said, referencing a similar play earlier Wednesday in which San Francisco's Gregor Blanco was ruled safe after White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers was apparently blocking the plate. "Four hours later, he's out. So I don't know what to say."

Neither did his players.

"The way I hit him, there wasn't really a lane to slide. I could've tried to go around, but I slide right into him when he had the ball," den Dekker said. "[The lane] was small. If there was one.

"Not being able to run the guy over like we have in the past, it's tough. Your instincts, you want to go and try to jar the ball loose and make a play happen, but you can't, so you have to try to slide into the plate. ... You're coming in full speed and you see the ball beat you there, you probably take a different approach to it."

den Dekker stopped short of saying he should have been safe -- he had not seen a replay, he said -- but he did not seem particularly riled up about the decision, either.

"I think that [Ramos] swipe-tagged [den Dekker] and kind of got out of the way," Williams said. "In past years, a catcher could just sit down on the plate, but he gave him some space and swipe-tagged him out."

It's just the latest example of the confusion surrounding Rule 7.13, which was implemented this year. It bans home-plate collisions and guarantees baserunners a path to the plate, but, as the baseball world has come to learn, it's not quite black and white.

Curtis Granderson, who grounded out one pitch later to end the game, saw it unfold from near the on-deck circle.

"I don't really know the full interpretation of the rule, but he got tagged out," Granderson said. "There's still a little bit of a gray area there and still a little bit of back and forth on it, but hopefully it'll get cleared up sooner rather than later."

Tim Healey is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.